Yes.... I replaced the brass sensor on the front of the engine. However the gauge is still not moving. I messed with the sensor again the other day, cranked the jeep and the temp gauge jumped immediately past red and then back to 0.

Whats the deal yo?

 

The way the sensor plugs in can cause binding and stress on the wires, play around with it, see if you can get it to go to one extreme or the other just buy playing with the pigtail by hand first. When diagnosing, start with the easiest and dumbest things first, then proceed to the next step.

 

I had this problem with a truck I had with a t-stat stuck open. The temp guage never moved. I dont know if that would be the case on these XJ's but its worth a thought. Run the heater and see if it heats up. If it really does not then its probably the T-stat. Someone correct me if I am wrong on these XJ's but that was the problem with my truck.

 

XJ has 2...the one at the t-stat housing controls the elect. rad fan...guage is controlled by a 2nd temp sensor located drivers side of cyl. head...dmaller in physical size but looks the same...

 

^x2. If you replaced the one in the thermostat housing, it was the wrong one. The one you're looking for is on the driver side rear of the cylinder hear. It has a little plug on top of much (much like a spark plug wire) that runs through the fire-wall. If you need a pic, let me know.

 

Yeah man... that would be great actually!

 

well, its 2:00am here in VA.. I can hit you up with a pic first thing in the morn.

 

ok, I ran into a problem. The sender is actually really hidden below a bunch of crap, plus my engine bay is a mess. But the part you need is called the Coolant Temperature Sending Unit. Not the Coolant Temp SENSOR, thats the t-stat housing one. The one you need is the sender.

 

THat helps a lot for me, I thought that was a knock sensor so I never checked it, I have the same problem. Guess I'm making a parts run! Here I was about to pull the T-stat sensor and put in one of those aftermarket guages out of frustration. That would have been a mess!

 

I've just been over both of my running jeeps, the ones I swapped guage clusters on, as well as the manual for that year, and I'm not finding the rear guage sender. According to the Hanes wiring diagram, the guage gets it's signal from the computer, not a sensor. THis is frustrating as I've even swapped computers between the two and I still get a varying glow of a light on the one, and a dead guage on the other!

The other thing that adds to my confusion is I have a 98 engine in the 91, and I don't know which parts are 98 and which are 91. All they would tell me when I bought it is that they only had to change over one connector when they swapped engines, but they didn't know which one. Comparing intakes, as I'm prepping to do the '99 intake swap, it is the 98 intake, and I'm assuming that means the power steering pump as well as it bolts to it. THe 93 I have that I pulled the guages from has an intake more like my '89 parts rig.

Anyway, I've even seen a pic of the sender and I'm not seeing it on either the 93 or the 91/98, and I haven't checked the 89. Perhaps it would be best if someone noted which year that second sender is on?

 

I can't find the temp sending unit as pictured in the link below (at the bottom of the page). My fuel ignition and intake manifold are in the way and no wire seems to be leading to anything under that. Help please

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/...iagnostics.htm

 

that diagram is for a renix engine, I don't think your 2k has a renix engine so that probably isn't going to help you much. Sorry I have an 87 so I don't know where the sensor is located at on your year.

 

Ok, I gotta take back a little of what I said earlier. I finally found it on my '93 the other day when I redid the valve cover gasket. I only saw it after I took the wiring rail off for the injectors, and moved it aside. It's little and directly in line with the plastic wiring box. Kinda looks out of place compared to the other sensors and such.

So, I'm guessing that it's the same through '98, but of course if it changed in '95/'96 when they went to OBD2, then that could be my problem with my '91. If it wasn't there they couldn't hook it up, and then I won't have a guage reading. I'll scope out the '91 with a '98 engine when I get time and figure it out.

BTW, Renix was only from 87 to 89, if I remember right. I don't know what the 90's had in them, but 91-95 are all the same Chrysler computer HO engine, OBD1. Then 96-98 it went to a HO with OBD2 (but other than that and changing the connector style, I don't know what they changed). 99-01 they changed the heads for the worse and compensated with a better intake. If I were to have to guess when or if they would have changed that sensor (location or type), it would have been in 99, but that doesn't mean they did. Pre-87, I haven't got a clue, don't got one.

Like I said, I couldn't see the stupid sensor. It's small, and hides out under the back end of that plastic wiring tray for the injectors. I missed it even after seeing a pic of it!

 

Oh god, I tried to do this repair after I swapped in an instrument cluster with actual gauges. The damn sending unit twisted off after I moved all the crap out of the way and used a deep well socket. Put in a manual gauge with a redneck sensor housing. Here's a pic of the gauge and redneck sensor housing.

Redneck sensor housing on the heater hose. 1/2 inch tee with hose barbs and a reducer for the sensor.


Centered the gauge on the panel to the left of the radio.

 

That actually looks pretty nice. I love seeing the stick shift..